Lyra

Stig Bjørge (left) and master craftsman Yoshinori Mishima (centre) of Lyra at the Munich High-End show in 2008 with Ivan Kursar of Cool Gales.

Lyra cartridges are designed by Jonathan Carr in collaboration with Yoshinori Mishima, and manufactured by Lyra in Japan.

Each unit is voiced like a fine musical instrument by Yoshinori, employing a process he develops for each model. This hand-voicing procedure, during which he repeatedly listens to each cartridge, compensates for variations between individual cartridge units of the same type, and ensures that each sample is as uniform to the reference performance and sound of each model as possible. What may seem like a small detail, but is nonetheless typical of Lyra’s attention to every aspect of design, the Lyra stylus guard is perhaps the easiest in the analogue world to engage and disengage.

The current range of Lyra cartridges are all characterised by astonishing clarity and tone. We’re proud to be long-term Lyra reference retailers.